CRANBERRY SAUCE FROM SCRATCH - Brusinkova Omacka

Over the years our family developed the Thanksgiving dinner menu that became our tradition. We totally love it and we cannot picture changing it. We usually make Pimiento Bisque for soup, then we make our stuffing from scratch (we bake our own corn bread and mix it with various items), we make yams and scalloped potatoes, green beans with almonds, cranberry sauce, my famous (and flaky) apple strudel, pumpkin pie and of course roasted turkey.

Before I moved to United States, I ate cranberries only once. They were wild and I was not too crazy about them. (Although, I loved wild blueberries, which I used to pick when we would go hiking with my family in the forest.) So when I came to America and was introduced to cranberry sauce that came from a can I took liking to it. One day my husband and I were looking through the cook books and found a cranberry sauce recipe, which we tried. It didn't take that much time to make and you get the real deal without any fake additives. We loved it and over the years I "tweeked" it a bit to my liking and so here it goes:

1 bag of fresh cranberries

water

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of red wine

1 TBSP of Rum

2 TBSP of Orange liqueur
butter to your liking 

1. rinse cranberries and pick out any stems or bad berries
2. put cranberries into a medium pot and add water so cranberries are immersed about 1/2 to 3/4 way (it depends how "liquid-y" you would like your sauce)
3. add sugar, stir and bring all ingredients in the pot to boil
4. lower the heat and cook about 15 minutes
5. add red wine and cook another 10 min on low heat
6. finally add rum and liqueur, stir and turn off the heat
7. add about 1/4 to 1/2 of the stick of butter into the sauce and stir until butter melts

I usually make this sauce one day ahead, because my husband likes it cold. I love it so much that I can eat it warm or cold. I make it not only for Thanksgiving dinner, but anytime I see fresh cranberries in the store and I want to roast a pork or chicken.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!